Media sheets are supplied to a typical printer by a supply tray (also known as an input tray), which holds a supply of the print media, such as paper, in a location that permits. paper to be brought into engagement with a feed mechanism of a printer. The feed mechanism contacts the top sheet of the media supply and advances that sheet into the printer. These feed mechanisms are often referred to as “pick and feed” rollers. From the pick and feed roller, the media sheet is moved into a print zone where an image or text is printed on the sheet.
Supply trays are normally adaptable to handle various sizes of paper. To this end, adjustable guides are built into the supply trays to ensure that whatever size paper is provided, it is advanced uniformly (i.e., without undesirable skewing) into the printer. With this type of input tray, the user is often required to remove the existing supply of paper from the tray before adding a different sized media. This slows the printing operation and requires physical interaction with the printer, which can be undesirable particularly for networked printers having users at remote locations.
Hence, a need remains in the art for a system or method for supplying small sized media to a printer that does not require physical interaction between the user and the printer.